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// Part 8 Disclosures 
// Story: The Measure of a Dragon 
// by Zephyr Spark 
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	In the comfort of her own home, Twilight at last turned to face the little dragon. She inhaled sharply, preparing herself for the inevitable storm.
“How could you make me do that?” Spike, still hot with embarrassment and clenching his fists to his side, berated her. “I thought you were my friend!”
“Spike, I’m sorry,” she apologized. “But it had to be done.”
“Why?” Spike could not control his voice, “what could you possibly gain from making me confess? Now every pony will think I’m a loser and a freak. I can see it now. Come see the baby dragon who has a crush on a unicorn! Don’t worry; he won’t bite!”
Twilight remained calm.
“You might not like it, but it seriously made the jury reconsider how they think of you,” she stated. “Before this, they thought you were a monster that could be bought and sold. Now, they’re beginning to see that you’re a unique individual, no different than them on the inside.”
Spike knew she was right, but that didn’t make him any less angry. How could she make him betray his deepest secret to Ponyville, Canterlot, and the Crystal Empire all at once? 
He folded his arms across his chest. “And the only way you could think to show them that was by making me confess?” 
“I’m sorry,” she apologized once again. “But I didn’t exactly have much time to prepare after Cadence practically destroyed my argument. Believe me, if I could have found any other way, I would have tried to prove my case without your confession. But with the circumstances being what they were—.”
Twilight trailed off when she realized Spike was hearing her but not listening. Growing frustrated, she decided to put her hoof down.
“You think I like this? I never wanted to betray your trust, but I don’t regret doing whatever it takes to protect you.” Twilight stated firmly. Spike met her eyes at last. “It’s like Cadence, alright? Neither of us wanted to do this, but we didn’t have a choice. You can blame me all your life for making you confess. You can blame Cadence for testifying against you. But don’t blame either of us wanting to save you!”
The alicorn and dragon stared at each other. He unfolded his arms, still bitter. “I can’t believe I trusted you.”
“Spike,” she reached out gently to him, but he shuffled back out of her grasp.
The little dragon looked down at the floor with teary eyes. “Now she’ll think I’m a freak. She’ll never talk to me again.”
Twilight frowned, “Spike, Rarity isn’t that shallow. I’m sure that—.”
A knock on the door interrupted their conversation. Twilight walked to the door, leaving Spike to stare as she left. She opened the door slightly and peered through the crack, finding her friend Rarity standing before her.
“Is everything alright, darling?” The white unicorn entered the house as Twilight opened the door. “I heard you and Spike yelling from outside.”
Twilight sighed, “He’s still upset that I made him confess.”
“Did you expect he wouldn’t be after all this?” Rarity turned to face the purple alicorn.
“No, I knew he’d blame me,” Twilight sullenly responded. “I just hoped he could see that I was doing this for him. Now, he’s afraid you might hate him forever.”
The white unicorn looked shocked that Twilight could even suggest that; her eyes were wide and her mouth agape. Inhaling sharply, she spoke to the alicorn, “Where is Spike? I think it’s time we talked.”
Twilight felt worried, unsure what Rarity planned to tell Spike, but she led her to the place where she left him. When he saw Rarity approach, Spike’s face grew red with embarrassment. His palms became sweaty with dread. He would rather face Queen Chrysalis and her army of Changelings than Rarity’s inevitable scorn. He turned, ready to run away and never come back.
“Spike, wait!” Her voice halted him in his tracks. He could not turn around and meet her eyes. “Please, let me say something.”
Spike gulped, preparing himself for the worst. The unicorn walked in front of Spike, who still could not meet her gaze.
“I’ve always known, Spike.” Spike’s teary eyes finally rose and met Rarity’s, “I’ve always known you’ve had a crush on me.”
The drake’s mouth dropped, his eyes expanding as the full implication of her words reached him. How had she—? When had she—?
“I’ve seen the ways you’ve fawned over me,” she continued, noticing his dumbfounded expression, “and you’ve always gone out of your way to be kind to me, expecting nothing in return. But I knew for certain when we were falling after you returned to normal size.”
Spike wasn’t sure his face could grow any redder, but his body felt uncomfortably burning. He lowered his gaze to the ground, twiddling his fingers. Rarity stepped closer to him, placing a hoof under his chin and lifting his gaze so their eyes could meet.
“Spike, I’m truly flattered,” she smiled kindly. “You’re the sweetest little dragon that ever could be, and this doesn’t change a thing between us.”
Spike’s chest tensed at their proximity. Rarity hoped she wasn’t putting Spike into too much discomfort. She lowered her hoof and backed off a bit. While his tension lessened, Spike still missed that closeness.
“Please don’t be angry with Twilight for making you confess,” Rarity spoke. “She just wanted to prove that you’re the same as any other pony on the inside.
“I know,” Spike’s eyes fell once again, “I just, I don’t know.” He twiddled his fingers awkwardly.
“What’s wrong, darling?” Rarity asked concerned, “You can tell me.”
“I just,” Spike found speaking difficult. “I wanted to tell you in my own time. You know, when it would be perfect.”
“Oh,” Rarity blushed, pleasantly taken aback by Spike’s romantic notions. When she tried to think of the last time any stallion she dated ever cared about being romantic, she found herself wishing she and Spike were not so far apart in age. “Well, I suppose we could always arrange for a more … atmospheric occasion for a confession. With a beautiful moon rising, surrounded by candlelights. I’ll pretend I was hearing it for the first time.”
Rarity almost was lost in the fantasy, until Twilight cleared her throat, snapping her back to reality. She shook her head clear, reminding herself what she had to do.
“The point is, I care about you too, Spike,” she moved her hoof to Spike’s shoulder. “You’re the dearest friend a pony could ask for, and none of this could ever keep us from being friends.”
Spike smiled, glad to know Rarity would not look at him any differently. The white unicorn lowered her hoof and turned away, ashamed of herself.
“And I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sorry if you’ve ever felt like I’ve been leading you on and taking advantage of your generosity. I’ve sought the affections of other stallions fully aware that I was hurting your feelings. You have every right to be upset with me and I can understand if you never wish to speak to me again.”
Rarity gasped as Spike wrapped his arms around her, “I’m not mad. You let me help you even when I was more of a problem than an actual help. You never turned me away or thought it was wrong for a dragon to like a pony. And yeah, it was hard seeing you go after other stallions and ignore me.” Spike looked up at her resolved to maintain their friendship, “But it taught me what it means to truly love, putting some other pony’s happiness before my own.”
He gave a strong reassuring smile of his own, “I only ever learned that because of you. I only ever knew how to feel this kind of love and be selfless because I met you. And I could never hate you, because more than the pony I love, you’re my friend.”
Tearing up at his beautiful words, she embraced him, grateful to know their friendship would survive, and possibly even flourish. Rarity resolved to treat Spike better from now on, being careful not to take his assistance for granted or hurt his feelings. Spike was just thankful Rarity wouldn’t look down on him or mock his affections. Twilight gazed at the scene with contentment, glad to know things had worked out for them at least.
Spike broke from the hug and walked over to Twilight, “I’m sorry about what I said to you Twilight.” He twiddled his fingers, “I know it wasn’t fair to you and you really didn’t have much time to prepare for the case so you had to –.”
Twilight interrupted him as she embraced him, and he soon followed suit, pushing his scaly face to her purple fur. There was a knock at the door. They broke from the hug and exchanged glances. Twilight turned to Rarity.
“Did Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy come with you?”
“I don’t think so,” Rarity said. The knock at the door became louder and more urgent.
The trio walked to the door, and Twilight opened it with her magic to find Silver Stone standing before them practically out of breath, with a saddlebag.
“Silver Stone? What are you doing here?” Spike approached her and brought her inside, not waiting for Twilight or Rarity to give him permission. Rarity wanted to ask who was this filly, but held her tongue, closing the door behind them.
“I found something,” she panted, “something that could help your case.”
She took out a book, covered with dragon scales. Twilight and Rarity recoiled in horror at the binding, but Spike’s eyes grew wide.
“Is that the book you told me about?” He asked, “the one about your parents?”
She nodded breathlessly.
Twilight stepped forward and interjected, “Hold on, what’s going on? What’s this book about?”
“Twilight,” Spike took the book and handed it to her, “this is Dr. Ruby and Dr. Sapphire’s research journal! It has records of their actions that provoked the dragon to attack them.”
Twilight snatched the journal and began scanning its pages. Rarity gazed over her shoulder with intrigue. Noticing her fatigue, Spike brought Silver Stone to the couch and brought her a glass of water, which she quickly drank.
“How did you get it?” He asked after her breath had steadied. “I thought Dr. Saffron was keeping it under lock and key.”
“She brought me back home, and practically dropped the key in front of me,” the little unicorn stated. “She said that she can’t intervene in this case, but perhaps some other pony could. I took out the book and noticed some pony had already stuffed some documents in there about the science department’s proposed experiments for you. Only she could have put them in there.”
Spike’s eyes narrowed, “Why would she do this? Does she have some ulterior motive?”
“No, I made her see,” the silver unicorn explained. “When I told her how you feel about Twilight, she said that if she won custody, she would let you stay with her. You would only have to visit the lab every so often. Ever since the entire science department tried to claim ownership of you, she’s been regretting ever bringing this case to court.”
Spike wasn’t sure he was hearing this. Was the doctor actually sympathizing with him?
Silver Stone continued, “She thought going through with the case would prevent another scientist from trying to take custody of you and hurting you, but then Cadence brought in that stupid law.”
Spike considered this a moment. “We need to tell Twilight about this.”
The two walked back to Twilight and Rarity, who had just finished skimming through the journal, disturbed by what they read. In addition to Dr. Ruby and Dr. Sapphire’s notes, Twilight found a few documents haphazardly stuffed in between the pages. These documents detailed proposed experiments to try on the dragon proposed by various scientists. She and Rarity grimaced with each one they read. This case had gone beyond protecting Spike; now she had to reform the science department. Forget reforming, she might have to disband it entirely. Nothing gave them the right to do this to another being, especially behind the princess’ back.
“Twilight,” she and Rarity saw Spike approaching. “There’s something you need to know. Dr. Saffron let Silver Stone take the journal and these notes so she could bring them to us. She practically handed it all to her.”
Twilight’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. Was the doctor playing them? She scanned the journal once more, trying to discern its credibility. Rarity seemed to share Twilight’s wariness.
“Why would she do that?” Rarity pondered, “Do you think she’s setting us up?”
Spike shook his head, “No, thanks to Silver Stone, Dr. Saffron actually sympathizes with me. She doesn’t want the entire science department to claim ownership of me and separate us.”
Twilight was still uncertain about the doctor’s motives, but the journal seemed legitimate, and she could indeed use it in the case. It still didn’t make sense for the doctor to sabotage her own case. The purple alicorn scowled at the doctor’s duplicity. How long had she even had this journal and why wasn’t it ever released to the public?
Silver Stone walked over to them from the couches and spoke up, “Saffron said the journal was given to her by Dr. Facts.”
Twilight and Rarity’s eyes widened with irritation at the name. This doctor had caused too many problems for their case.
“She said it was his way of telling her the ends justify the means,” Silver Stone continued. “That her practices are outdated and don’t get results.”
“Do you know where we can find this Dr. Facts?” Rarity asked the little filly.
She gritted her teeth, “No pony knows who Dr. Facts really is. All we really know is that he’s well versed with science and philosophy, and has considerable influence over the science department. Whoever he is, he wants to,” she scowled, “hurt Spike irreparably.”
Twilight and Rarity gave the filly a hard stare, “He’ll have to get through us first.”
Just then, there was another knock on the door.
“Twilight! Are ya in there?” They recognized Applejack’s voice outside. Twilight opened the door and Applejack rushed in, nearly crashing into her.
“Applejack, what’s –?”
“We found Dr. Facts,” Applejack interrupted her. 
Every pony and dragon’s eyes widened and a thousand questions began pouring out. Twilight motioned for them to quiet down, so Applejack could speak.
“Dr. Facts sent us on a goose chase, even planted a false informant to try an’ lead us all the way to Griffinstone, but we figured out that some pony was tryin’ to trick us, and got a confession out of her.“ 
“Wait, 'her'?” Twilight raised a brow, “Are you saying Dr. Facts is a mare?”
“Yup,” Applejack nodded as she pulled out a piece of paper from her hat and showed it to the group. “Pinkie Pie managed to make her write a confession an’ everything.”
“How did she do that?” Spike asked, as Twilight took the letter and scanned it.
Applejack’s eyes flashed darkly for a fraction of a second, sending a chill down their spines. “Let’s just say Pinkie Pie can be very … persuasive. She didn’t exactly force the confession so it’s not coercion. If she tries to claim it was, just have Pinkie Pie testify an’ she’ll tell you how we got a confession.”
Twilight looked at the earth pony intently, “Are you absolutely sure it’s her?”
Applejack nodded, “It fits perfectly when you really think about it.”
Twilight stared at the signature once again. She glanced up to Applejack, “We need to bring her to court. She has a lot to answer for.”